A Lightning Strike After the Snowfall
by Vanguard523
Summary: Team Rainbow suffers a huge loss, but wreaks havoc on one in particular.
1. Remberance

Blitz couldn't believe it. Even though he was there when it happened, even though he saw it with his own eyes, his mind could not comprehend what was happening. He sat beside Bandit and Jager with the rest of Team Rainbow accompanying them as Monika Weiss, also known to the rest of the team as IQ, was being lowered into the ground, her body enclosed in a casket.

Tears welled up in Blitz's eyes but with a deep breath, he pushed them back, determined to remain strong for his remaining teammates.

The GSG9 were expected to give a eulogy for her, and reluctantly lined up at her gravestone, prepared to break the lifeless silence that had formed.

Jager took a deep breath and spoke first. "Monika Weiss was not just a teammate. She was a friend, definitely the smart one among all of us." He said with a humourless chuckle. "Whenever one of us was bored and bordered on doing something stupid, she was always there to step in and prevent any of us from getting hurt. She saved all of our lives countless times and I'm disappointed that I couldn't save hers." He ended his speech and looked at Bandit, who nodded back.

"In addition to Marius' words, I would also like to say that despite her originally gruff demeanour, Monika was one of the nicest people I've ever met. She went out of her way to help others, never complained and was always willing to listen to our problems when she had more than enough of her own."

When it was Blitz's turn to talk, he glanced down at the casket and wished that it was him in there instead of her. IQ had a mother, father, two brothers and a sister. And who did he have? No one. His mother and father were both dead, he had grown up with no siblings and had no wife or girlfriend.

Blitz took another deep breath to delay the tears and spoke from the heart. "Monika always knew what was best for each of us. She never pushed anyone to do what she told them to do, merely offered her opinion and let them take it from there. She never got angry, never yelled, was always patient and never let anyone give up on themselves. I don't think she would approve of our grieving and would ask… no, beg that we move on with our lives and keep our minds focused on the task at hand so that no one else is hurt and nobody has to go through what we are right now."

Bandit put a hand on his teammate's shoulder and nodded in agreement. The remaining three members of the GSG9 then took their seats as the resident priest read quotes from the bible.

As the rest of Team Rainbow digested Blitz's words and listened to the priest, the German shield-bearer was focused on seeking retribution for not only his teammate, but also his love interest.


	2. Suspicion

"Elias." Bandit called his teammate's name as they sat around their regular table at the mess hall in the base.

"Ja?" He replied.

"You okay? You seem a little distant and you've hardly eaten."

Blitz shook his head. "Nein, I'm fine. Just a stomach ache." It was a half-truth. What ached was not his stomach, but rather, his heart. He had fallen in love with the beautiful blonde-haired, green-eyed German woman and had never bothered to say it, a decision that would haunt him for the remainder of his life.

"I can give you a stomach relaxant if you'd like." Jackal offered.

Blitz waved him off and took a bite of toast. "Thank you, but I'm sure I'll be fine." He replied, the breakfast doing nothing to soothe his nerves.

After a few pathetic attempts to assure his fellow teammates that he was fine, Blitz headed back to the GSG9 quarters to get some rest, only to be intercepted by the male representative of the GEO assigned to Team Rainbow. Jackal grabbed him by the arms and held the German man in place as he stared him down.

"Look, I know exactly what you're going through and believe me, the path you're treading now **will** kill you. After I lost my brother, I told myself that nothing would stop me but to this day, I still have no leads on who killed him."

Blitz shoved the other man backwards and glared at him. "So what? You think I should just let this go, just wait until another one of those despicable bastards kills another member of my team?" He said angrily.

"No! I'm saying that you should continue to investigate as to who did this, but also take care of yourself. If you don't eat or sleep, how the fuck are you supposed to stay awake long enough to seek revenge? You don't even have any leads as to who did this!" The Spaniard yelled.

Blitz shook his head. "I know that the White Mask did this. Someone within their organization who is very precise in killing, and I'm going to find out, even if it does kill me. If I can't sleep now, I'll be able to sleep much better once the son of a bitch is dead." With that, he walked away, leaving an exasperated Jackal alone in the hall. All of Team Rainbow was given the rest of the day to grieve, but the next day would be back to work. Everyone else avoided the subject of IQ's death like the plague, despite the fact that it was the only thing that entered their minds.

Back at the mess hall, Glaz looked to his fellow Spetsnaz teammates for quiet conversation.

"So…Alex. I noticed that you have a shield on your turret now, that's pretty genius."

"Da." Was all the man could reply with, his mind now polluted with the possibility that any one of his teammates could die either today or tomorrow.

"And Timur, your scope now features a thermal scan." His teammate, Kapkan replied. "Why did you not think of that earlier?"

Glaz smiled lightly. "Well, I actually **did** think about it. Implementing the technology was the difficult part."

"I managed to squeeze an extra Matryoshka into my equipment bag." Fuze interjected.

Kapkan nodded in fascination. "That's great, how did you manage that?"

Fuze chuckled. "I just mashed everything down until I could get another one in there."

Conversations like this continued throughout every CTU, trying to keep away from the fact that they had just lost one of their own. After a few minutes, a recruit walked up to the SAS table and handed Thatcher a folder.

"What's this, soldier?" He asked.

"A mission, sir. Command wants you to take four other team members from any CTU and clear out the designated building tomorrow at 1400 hours."

The SAS veteran nodded. "Thank you. Dismissed." The rookie left with a salute as Thatcher skimmed the file.

Mute peeked over his teammate's shoulder at the file. "Who are you thinking about taking?" The young Brit inquired.

Thatcher closed the file and got up from his seat. "Whoever I wish."

He had selected Fuze, Doc, Thermite and Blackbeard for the operation, all of whom assured him they were mentally fit for combat.

The next day, almost everyone was involved in a training exercise, excluding the team who would be going on a mission at two in the afternoon.

With their equipment all checked out and loaded onto the helicopter, they took off towards the kill house located nearby and dropped them off close to the building. Approaching from the parking lot, the team climbed the exterior stairs as quietly as possible and killed every hostile, making their way from the top down.

They approached the bottom floor and with Blackbeard on point, moved down the stairs. Bullets threatened to end their lives and just barely missed their intended targets. Thatcher pulled his Navy SEAL teammate backwards and told him to wait while he ordered Fuze to plant a cluster charge on the floor above the enemy and Thermite, along with Doc, made their way to the garage where they could flank the enemy.

"Fuze, detonate on my mark and Thermite, Doc, as soon as the explosions stop, get down there and clear out any remaining hostiles. Copy?"

"Good copy." Thermite replied over the mike.

"Roger." Fuze replied.

"3,2,1… detonate." Thatcher said. Seconds later, five grenades descended from the ceiling next to two terrorists, sending blood and limbs everywhere, painting the walls red. Thatcher ordered Blackbeard into the projector room where he quickly dispatched a panicking man wearing the signature White Mask with a headshot, brain matter staining the wall behind him. Thermite and Doc jumped down a floor and were quickly engaged in melee combat. Two men attacked both of them with their fists, punching wildly, attempting to strike their opponents. Unfortunately, neither one of them was a match for their highly trained attackers as Doc stabbed his assailant three times in the chest with his knife while Thermite pinned his opponent to the ground and snapped his neck. The American and French operators looked up to see Thatcher waving them towards the final room that Fuze had bombarded with his cluster charge. After stacking up, they simultaneously breached in, finding no hostiles.

"HQ, this is Thatcher. Mission complete, all hostiles down, over." Doc was about to exit the room when he noticed something.

"Thatcher!" He called. The SAS veteran turned around. "You might want to take a look at this." Doc said, gesturing to something he couldn't see from his current point of view. As he moved to where Doc was standing however, he saw two corpses, neither one of them wearing the masks that marked them as terrorists.

"What am I looking at, Doc?"

"Two bodies…"

"I can see that." Thatcher interrupted.

"That have clearly been dead before we got here."

At this, Thatcher cocked an eyebrow. "How can you tell?"

"Well, the bodies have clearly been moved and flies are present, indicating that the stench of rotting flesh has had time to manifest in the building."

"Hmm. Can you tell what they died from? This might be a crime scene."

Doc holstered his SMG and crouched next to the bodies. "Well, this man on the left appears to have had both his knees shot, as well as multiple scars consistent with a knife on both of his arms as well as his chest." He declared, rolling up the man's sleeves and pointing to his scarred shirt.

"So he bled to death?" Fuze interjected.

Doc nodded at his Russian friend. "Oui. It would've been extremely painful as well. Whoever did this knew how to kill slowly and without mercy."

Thermite then gestured to the other corpse. "What about him? How'd he die?"

Doc crouch-walked to the other body and examined it closely. "Well, this one is no mystery." He said, pointing to a large incision in the man's throat. "Stabbing. With a large knife I might add. Although…" He inspected the body closer. "He also has the same cuts and bullet wounds as the other one."

"A serial killer?" Blackbeard offered.

Doc shrugged. "Could be. We'd know more if we got the bodies back to base and had them examined by the autopsy guys."

"I'll radio HQ and tell them what we've got." Thatcher declared.

15 hours ago…

Blitz glanced at his watch. 11:00 PM. _Good. The terrorists will not be expecting an attack this late at night_. He thought as he entered the building through the basement stairs.

Slowly, with his flash-shield and sidearm in hand, he moved forward from the projector room into the armory where he found one of the hostiles with a white mask asleep in a chair. It took all of his willpower to prevent his hand to blow the bastard's head off. But, he placed the man in a chokehold, knocking him out.

Seconds later, Blitz heard a voice coming from the first floor and froze. "Hey, you better not be sleeping on the watch again. We're getting reinforcements in a couple hours so you'd better be awake!" The other man shouted.

The German shield-bearer moved the unconscious man out of sight and waited as his accomplice entered the room and looked around before being knocked unconscious. After tying both men to chairs and duct taping their mouths shut with material he had found in the projector room, he prepared for his interrogation by unsheathing his knife and cocking his handgun. One of the men stirred and Blitz casually glanced at him.

"Sleeping beauty awakens." He said humourlessly. The man looked at himself, then his unconscious friend and struggled to remove the tight bindings, his shouting muffled by the tape over his mouth.

"So, here is what will happen. I will ask you some questions and you will answer each and every one of them truthfully. Understood?" Blitz asked, removing the tape.

"You're going to kill me anyway." The man spat.

Blitz held up a finger and removed the mask from his victim as well as the other man. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you, what did you say?"

"I said, fuck you!" He shouted. Blitz then sighed and shot the man in both his kneecaps.

"I don't particularly like it when people yell at me. I get angry when that happens. And by the way, you also didn't answer my question. What did you say the first time?" Blitz drawled out.

The man breathed in and out quickly through clenched teeth, trying to keep the pain hidden from his captor. "I said that you'll kill me anyway."

Blitz chuckled and smirked. "Ja, you're right. I have to though. You're a terrorist, it's my job. But how you die is completely up to you. Answer my questions with truth, and you will die painlessly. Lie to me however, and I will ensure that you suffer for a long time before passing into the void."

"Hmph." The man grunted back.

"Okay then, we understand each other. But first, I will wake your friend so that I don't have to repeat myself." Blitz tapped the other sleeping man on the head with the barrel of his weapon until he woke. He then reiterated what he said to the first man and proceeded with his first question.

"Monika Weiss. Who killed her?"

The first man bowed his head. "Weiss…Weiss…" "His head then popped up. "Oh! I think I fucked her once." He said with an evil grin.

"Never heard the name before." His partner replied.

Blitz then proceeded to give the first man a diagonal cut on his chest and the second a horizontal slice to his bicep. Both screamed out in pain and thrashed in their chairs.

"Was I not clear the first time?" Blitz calmly asked.

"Okay! The last name rings a bell, but I don't know the first name!" The second man cried out.

"Barry, shut the fuck up!" The first hissed. Blitz then gave him a similar cut to that of the second man.

Blitz leaned against a wall and cleaned his blade with a nearby cloth. "Barry, please continue." The man remained quiet and the German man sighed again. "You realize that I'll stay here all night if I have to." He said, firing into both the man's knees, blood now starting to pool between the two captives.

After half an hour longer of intermittent answers, the first man had finally bled out and died after receiving additional cuts from the vicious six inch blade Blitz carried while the second had a few more cuts, though was still conscious.

"Now Barry, you were saying something before your friend died?"

The terrified man quickly nodded back. "We don't know his true name, we just call him the Hammer and Sickle. H and S for short."

"And he killed Monika Weiss?"

"He's the only one I can think of who is capable of such a task. He can break anyone given enough time and he's a professional assassin."

Blitz nodded as he began writing down what the man said. "Good, anything else?"

The man swallowed before answering. "I only met him once. He was wearing a White Mask, so I couldn't see his face but when he talked, he had a thick European accent. Definitely not from the Americas or Asia."

"Is that it?"

"Yes! Now please kill meeeeeeee!" The man whined and pleaded. Blitz then walked behind the man, tilted his forehead back, and plunged the blade into his throat.

" **Now** I have a lead."


	3. Search and Murder

"Hey, did you guys hear what the team found in the kill house yesterday?" Bandit asked his teammates, sitting beside them at the cafeteria.

Jager shook his head. "Nein. What was it?"

"Sounds like they got there, killed the hostiles occupying the area, then discovered two bodies that had already been killed a few hours before they even got there."

"Rivalry within the White Mask?" Blitz offered casually.

The electrician shrugged. "Could be. But we won't know for sure until our autopsy docs examine the bodies further."

 _Schiesse. I'm on a clock now._ Blitz thought. He knew that conducting unauthorized military operations was a court martial offence and if he was ejected from the GSG9, there was no possible way he would be able to find H and S.

"Do they know how long it will take to find the killers?" He asked.

"They say between forty-eight and seventy-two hours." Bandit replied.

 _Fuck, only three days at maximum._ The shield-bearer thought. He finished his lunch, bid his teammates goodbye and went off to find Valkyrie, the only person he knew that was capable of finding any person in the world at any time.

Blitz found the Navy SEAL in the gym, strengthening her biceps as she curled sixty pounds on a dumbbell. After she had finished her set, she turned to see the large German leaning against a mirror with crossed arms.

"Hey Blitz." She acknowledged him, wiping away beads of sweat that had formed on her brow. "What's up?"

He shrugged. "Not much. I was wondering if you might be able to find someone for me."

"Absolutely." She said with a nod. "Just let me get changed first."

Blitz then nodded and waited outside the locker rooms for the Navy SEAL. She emerged a few moments afterwards, dressed in civilian clothing consisting of a green t-shirt and blue jeans, her hair damp from the shower. "So, who do you need found?"

Blitz just shrugged. "Meh, nobody important. I'll tell you when we get to the intel center." Valkyrie nodded back and they made their way to the multi-threat-assessment-center or MTAC for short. The large room housed several computers that lined three out of the four walls, with the final one holding the doorway up. On one of the walls was a large TV that was meant for video-chats to other Rainbow bases on separate continents.

Valkyrie took a seat at one of the empty computers and waited for Blitz to give her a name.

But the German man was hesitant to give up the name as he noticed two problems; one being the fact that there were security cameras that were checked daily to see if any unusual personnel were using the facility, meaning that his clock had just shrunk down from three days to two at the most. The second issue was that other people were working nearby and could possibly overhear the name of the man he was searching for.

"Blitz!" Valkyrie called his name to snap him out of his stupor. He quickly shook his head and looked down to his friend.

"Ja?"

She gestured to the blank screen in front of her. "The name?" Blitz licked his dry lips and leaned in close to her ear.

"I'm looking for Monika's killer." He whispered.

Valkyrie's eyebrows shot up and she reeled back from sheer shock. Blitz was then prepared to knock her out if necessary to prevent her from preventing him to hunt down H and S. After a few seconds though, her shock had mitigated and was now back to staring at the screen.

"Give me the name of the son of a bitch." She growled.

Astonished, Blitz began to question her response. "Y-you don't want me to stop hunting this guy down?"

She slowly turned her head towards him and stared him dead in the eyes. "You think that Monika only confided in you? She was my friend too, Blitz. I want this guy dead just as much as you do. I also know that it was probably you that killed those two bastards down in autopsy right now."

Blitz smirked at her attitude. "Ja, I did. The name I got from them was 'H and S.' They said he was a contract killer and had European accent." At the mention of the name, Valkyrie had already started typing at an incredible speed, the screen showing a large map of Europe and pictures of multiple faces popping up and disappearing at a hasty rate. After a few moments, two pictures had shown up; one of a man of about thirty with green eyes, jet-black hair and ties to the White Mask currently at a base in Finland and the other man aged more than fifty years old easily judging by his balding, short grey hair and dark, ocean blue eyes. This man was retired however, but still had previous connections with the White Mask and was only five miles away from the first target.

"These are the guys who fit the profile of H and S, cross-referenced with every single terrorist database in the world. You want printouts?" Valkyrie asked her partner-in-crime.

"Nein. All evidence of this must remain between you and me." Valkyrie nodded, took down the coordinates of both men and handed the sticky note to Blitz.

"So? What are you going to do?" The Navy SEAL asked.

Blitz sighed as he realized the end result. "I'm afraid that this is it. If I manage to kill both these men and return back to HQ, I will be court-martialed for carrying out an unauthorized military strike and if I don't succeed, I'll die." He stated bluntly.

Valkyrie nodded in grim agreement. "Well then, I wish you luck. The first flight to Finland leaves in four hours, so you've got three to pack everything you'll need. I can call in a favor from my friend in the Airforce to fly you there with all the military-grade equipment you'll need, including your shield."

"Danke, Meghan." He replied with an extended hand, which she gladly shook.

"Think nothing of it, Elias. Just make sure you kill these fuckers."

Blitz nodded and headed down to the base armory to pack. On his back he carried his shield and his duffle bag contained several magazines for the only handgun he used along with his signature weapon. With Valkyrie's instructions, he headed off base in the middle of the day without saying anything to his teammates and boarded the designated plane that would take him straight to Monika's killer.

As he tried to sleep while the plane was en-route, Blitz repeated the same thought in his mind over and over again. _Neither of these men are innocent. They ended lives simply for a few dollars, not for a country, not for equality, not for anyone except themselves._

Soon, sleep enveloped the German man and he was greeted in his dreams by the ghost of his recently deceased teammate, her blonde hair and blue eyes glowing brightly as a bright light shone behind her back.

"Elias." She greeted him with a smile. "I appreciate that you're taking it upon yourself to sow justice, but just remember that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Blitz tried to talk, but words could not emanate from his mouth. "Keep yourself safe, both for your sake and that of our teammates." With that, she was gone and darkness filled the void that she left as Blitz woke up a second after from an announcement declaring that the descent to their destination had begun.

The second he landed, Blitz made his way off the military base and drove a jeep he had 'procured' from the Airforce to the coordinates written down by Valkyrie. He had decided to go for the younger target first as he was the more likely of the two men to be H and S. He pulled up to a lone, single story house on a hill surrounded by grass and a single oak tree that stood fifteen meters away from the homestead.

Blitz cautiously exited the vehicle, brought his shield to protect his front as he used his other hand to fish around in the duffle bag to grab five magazines of ammunition along with the one that was already in the pistol. He then advanced up the gravel driveway as quickly and quietly as possible before he stepped up the wooden front porch. One stair let out a high-pitched squeal and he froze.

Nothing was heard save for the chirping of songbirds and the soft breeze that made the leaves rustle in the tree. Blitz let out a quiet sigh and prepared to kick in the front door. With all his strength, Blitz lunged his foot forward, effectively cracking through the wooden barrier that stood in his way and he was instantly greeted by the sight of the man that he saw in the photo sitting at a dining table with a spoonful of cereal halfway from the bowl. Blitz immediately took aim at the man and fired three shots, all of them missing their targets as the man had quickly rolled out of the way behind the marble counter a meter behind. The man then peeked over his cover and with a pistol of his own in hand, fired two rounds at the German, both shots being blocked by the shield. Blitz activated the flash feature but it was too late as his opponent had already ducked back down.

Blitz then crouched and made to flank his target, but the man mantled over his cover and kicked his shield with both feet, causing for Blitz to lose control of his left arm as the extra weigh bore down on it. Blitz then knocked away the man with a shoulder to the chest and sent him flying backwards two feet.

Unfazed by the injury the man fired again, putting two bullets into Blitz's armored chest and one in his left leg. The German fell backwards and began attempting to regain his breath. As he saw H and S stand up and walk towards him, he attempted to regain control of his arm and shoot, only for the ruthless killer to stomp hard on his wrist.

H and S shook his head. "Why do they always send the idiots to try and kill me?" He wondered aloud.

"Because you murder our friends." Blitz spat. "You killed Monika Weiss."

"Ah, yes. Tragedy, that one. It's a shame she wasn't on our side. She would've been a great asset." H and S declared as he quickly reloaded his pistol and aimed it at Blitz's head. "And so would you."

"No." He replied. "I think NOT!" He shouted as he flailed his wrist around in a diversion so that H and S would focus on his one hand and not the other. The Finn was quick to put a bullet in Blitz's right hand, but not focused as when he returned his gaze to the German's face, Blitz had raised his shield and blinded the man, causing him to flail around wildly before Blitz grabbed the man's own weapon with his uninjured hand and fired four bullets into his head, staining the hardwood floors with both blood and bits of shattered skull.

Blitz stood and stared at the corpse, adrenaline beginning to die down within his body as pain swelled to his right hand which bled onto any surface it touched.

Undeterred however, Blitz walked outside with his head down until he reached the final step of the porch and heard the cocking of a weapon. His head snapped up and he saw the face of the other man suspected to be H and S holding a revolver with a smirk on his face.

"I was wondering how long it might take for one of you Germans to find me."

"H and S." Blitz declared.

The man shrugged. "I prefer the name Hammer. It's shorter and more to the point."

Resignedly, Blitz let go of his shield and dropped to his knees with a deep exhale. "Who did I just kill?"

"A decoy. A simple mercenary I paid on a weekly basis to keep any who might try and hunt me down at bay."

"You killed Mo-"

"Monika Weiss. German, date of birth; August 1, 1979. Approximately five foot eight, blonde hair, blue eyes, yes. Yes, I killed her." The true H and S interrupted. "And it looks like you're next." He stated, moving forward a few steps and pressing the revolver to Blitz's head.

He sighed and waited for inevitable _bang_ that would end his life. True enough, three gunshots rang out, but Blitz was able to open his eyes afterwards. He looked in front of him and Hammer let out a pained groan before falling on top of Blitz.

"Let's go move, move!" He heard a familiar voice shout.

Another set of hands lifted Hammer off Blitz and the German was greeted by the sight of Valkyrie crouching overtop of Blitz, radio in hand. "Confirmed, target is KIA. Nice shooting, Glaz."

"Anything for a friend." He heard the Russian say. Two more shapes entered Blitz's view and he recognized them as Jager and Bandit.

The electrician shook his head and put a hand on Blitz's shoulder. "Patience is not a virtue of yours, my freund."

"When's the medevac chopper coming?" Jager asked.

"ETA is three minutes." Glaz stated over the radio.

Valkyrie grinned at a very confused Blitz. "You didn't **actually** think I'd let you go alone, did you?"

"B-but the unauthorized mission…" He began.

"Was authorized just before we left base minutes after you did." Bandit declared.

Blitz let out a deep breath as his hand continued to bleed and his friends crowded around him. He was finally at peace and Monika had been avenged.

No one would ever expect to kill a member of Team Rainbow and walk away alive again.


End file.
